A new protector
by stripypants
Summary: 20 years later... Calvin and Hobbes return but there is one more character in the mix. her name is Mally and she's 5 years old...


Chapter 1

"DAD!" came the loud famine screech from down the hall. "Ung" said the one in which the voice was calling. He knew that voice. It was the voice of Mally, his 5 year old daughter. He unsnuggled from the covers and his wife's warm embrace and glanced at the clock. The bright red numbers read 1:45.

"Great" he mumbled and turned over, not wanting to get up.

"DAAAAAD!" came the screech, louder this time. "Ug, I'm coming" he shouted to get his daughter to shut up. He slipped over the side of the bed and recoiled as his feet touched the cold oak floor, then went out of his bedroom door. He shuffled down the carpeted hallway, still groggy. I was having such a good dream, too. He though and he dragged down the hallway. He was a kid again running though the woods with… him. He grasped the knob of his daughter's door, and got a shock as his fingers touched cool metal.

"What is it, Mally" he said opening the door a crack to peak in her room.

"There are monsters, dad" she replied "everywhere"

"Oh" he said "and you need someone to protect you" Mally nodded, her eyes pleading for her big brave dad to protect her.

"Ok" he said turning away "I know just the person, just give me a minute to get him he crept down the hall with a feeling of high excitement in his chest. Suddenly he was 6 years old again roaming the woods with a tiger by his side, or transmogrifying into animals with him. The memories swirled in his head of everything he had done with him. He didn't notice he was back in his room until he slammed into his bed post. He swore under his breath, then went to grab his most prized possession.

"Hello old friend, long time, no see." He said as he lifted a very worn and bedraggled stuffed tiger from a cupboard in his bed-side table.

"Come on" he said to the stuffed toy as he carried it to Mally's room. the dad could feel the daughter's eyes on him as he walked into the room. She was mostly covered by the blanket from her bed but she still watched him, slowly lowering the blanket as he came closer and sat on the foot of the bed.

"This," he said to her, indicating the worn, old tiger sitting in his lap "is my very best friend. He has been since I was your age" the girl stared at her father. The blanket lay forgotten in her lap.

"He's going to protect you tonight"

"Really?" said his daughter, her eyes wide.

"Yep" said her dad "he protected me from the many monsters I had under my bed"

"Does he have a name?"

"His name is Hobbes"

"Honey, is that you?" asked his wife, bleary eyed as he came into the room and slipped into bed.

"Yes, it's me"

"What happened, What did Mally want?"

"There were monsters under her bed and she needed protecting so I called the most ferocious person I know, Hobbes."

"do you think it's time to pass him on?"

"I don't know, let's see how tonight goes"

"Good morning, Mally" said her father from the stove.

"How was last night? Did Hobbes protect you?"

"Dad?" asked Mally her blue eyes serious.

"What?" he asked

"Does Hobbes come alive?" she asked as she sat at the kitchen table.

His heart was pounding in his chest. This might be it. It might be time to pass Hobbes on to Mally. This was the moment he had been waiting for since he first heard that Susie, his wife, was having a baby. He had hoped and prayed that Mally would accept Hobbes, he just didn't know when the right time was, it was so hard to tell. He suddenly he flashed back to when he first heard they were having a girl. He remembered how nervous he was. Boys, like him when he was little, would accept Hobbes right away, but girls. How would they react? Would they accept him? The answer, for Mally at least, was yes.

"Well dad does he or doesn't he?"

"Huh? Oh, well did he come alive for you?"

"Yeah, he did"

"What happened?" he asked as he came to sit next to her at the table

"well, it was just after you left, dad when I heard a voice talk to me"

"what did he say?"

" he said 'hi I'm Hobbes'"

That was Hobbes alright thought Calvin

"anything else?"

"yeah he kept asking if I knew Calvin. I said that I did and that you were my dad. He got so excited."

That was Hobbes too. Calvin told him that they, he and Susie, were having a baby. He was so excited that he would have a new playmate and friend.

"he wanted to talked to me and play with me." Mally continued

"he told me that he always suspected that you and mom would get married and he told me about how when you were little you and Hobbes would do all sorts of things. Will you tell me more?"


End file.
